NYElly

I.
Elly (kid!)
Not on your nelly!
JE NE SUIS Q’UNE MÈRE!

Double triggers cocked
we duel —
hammer time!

Your fragile beauty,
wan
peripheral           ignored

I slam outside
touch earth, trees
spray anger, toe puddles

poised ugly between
enlightenment
and        annihilation.

It makes you grin
then quake —
pain repressed.

I’m nearly unmoved.
But         as your two thumbs fly, tapping
I soften, re-dunked in love.

II.
Partyside, vegan booted
I bind you            real leather
and        celluloid

steal your boots
part the crossy webs
and        your legs!

You’re so inVolved
it voids the mind;
one tough cookie — gooey inside.

Sober, I flip off my top.
There’s acclaim.
This is Real.

III.
First time drunk,
date-rape-drugged — why not?
I greet this new year, jelly legged

hold court
in fantasy’s epicentre
where — epicene — they’re lining up!

And you (epic!)
steering me safe
holding this space

for the love of strangers
in my magical

madrugada.